Burnout Quiz: Am I Burnt Out? (15-Question Self-Check)

The quiz above gives you a score in about 3 minutes. Below: the 12 signs it asks about, what each result means, how we score it, first steps and where to get help. A self-check, not a diagnosis.

How do you know if you're burnt out? 12 signs to look for

You're likely burnt out when three things have lasted for weeks or months: you feel exhausted even after rest, you feel distant or cynical about your work, and you get less done than you used to. Those are the three signs the World Health Organization uses. Poor recovery, when a weekend no longer refills you, often comes with them.

Time separates burnout from a rough week. Burnout is when the drained days stop being the exception.

These are the 12 signs, in the same four groups as the quiz:

You don't need all 12 to be burnt out, and having one or two doesn't mean you are. The quiz weighs them for you: how often each one happens, across all four areas.

What your burnout score means (all 4 results)

Your score runs from 0 to 100 and falls into one of four ranges. Under 25 means few signs of burnout. From 25 to 49 means early warning signs. From 50 to 74 means clear signs, and 75 or more means strong signs. The line at 50 is where talking to someone becomes the first step.

The total is only half the story. Your four area scores show where the strain sits, and that changes what helps first.

How we score this quiz (and why burnout tests disagree)

We wrote the 12 statements ourselves, three for each of four areas. Three areas come from the WHO's description of burnout in ICD-11 (code QD85): exhaustion, mental distance and reduced effectiveness. We added recovery, because rest that stops working is often what people notice first.

You answer each statement on a 5-point scale: never or almost never (0), rarely (1), sometimes (2), often (3) or always (4). That frequency scale, and the way we turn it into 0 to 100, follow the Copenhagen Burnout Inventory, a 19-item questionnaire that Tage Kristensen and colleagues published in 2005. In the CBI every answer is worth 0, 25, 50, 75 or 100 points, and a scale score is simply the average of those points. Ours works out the same: an area score is its three answers added up, divided by 12, times 100. The total is all 12 answers divided by 48, times 100. The CBI has no official clinical cutoff. We treat 50 as the point where signs are clear; the four ranges around it are our own editorial choice, not clinically validated.

1. 12 answers. Each worth 0 to 4 points.
2. 4 area scores. Each area's 3 answers, out of 12, as 0 to 100.
3. 1 total. All 12 answers, out of 48, as 0 to 100, then its range.
4. 3 context questions. How long, where the pressure comes from, your mood outside work. They steer the guidance and help cards, never the score.

Burnout tests disagree because each uses different questions, scales and cutoffs. The Maslach Burnout Inventory, the one most research uses, is licensed and paid, so free quizzes write their own versions. In 2023, Wilmar Schaufeli and colleagues published cutoffs for the Burnout Assessment Tool, but they apply to its own items and come from employees in the Netherlands (1,370), Flanders (1,403) and Finland (1,350), compared with patients diagnosed with burnout. The authors say the cutoffs should be used only tentatively in other countries, and the mental distance scale told the two groups apart least well.

Our quiz has the same limits as any self-report: it's a snapshot of one moment, not a diagnosis.

Burnout vs stress vs depression: how to tell the difference

Stress feels like too much: too many demands, but you still believe it'll be fine once things calm down. Burnout feels like too little: too little energy, too little care, a growing distance. Depression is a low mood and a loss of pleasure that reaches almost every part of your life, not just work.

A rough clue, not a test: burnout may ease a little on days off, while depression tends to stay. But the two overlap a lot. A 2015 review of 92 studies by Renzo Bianchi, Irvin Schonfeld and Eric Laurent concluded that the line between them is conceptually fragile. They can occur together, and burnout can slide into depression.

That's why question 15 asks about your mood outside work. If you've felt down or uninterested on more than half the days, please talk to your doctor or a mental health professional; depression is treatable. Your doctor can also check for physical causes of tiredness, like anemia, thyroid problems or a sleep disorder. If you ever think about harming yourself, call or text 988.

Is burnout a medical diagnosis?

No. The World Health Organization lists burnout in ICD-11 as an occupational phenomenon, not a medical condition. It sits in the chapter on reasons people contact health services that aren't illnesses, under problems related to employment. So burnout describes what chronic stress at work does to you, not a disease of its own.

The WHO adds that the term refers to the work context only and shouldn't describe other areas of life. Not a diagnosis doesn't mean not serious, though. The symptoms are real, and they're a good reason to see your doctor, who can look at sleep, mood and physical causes.

Can you burn out outside work? Caregivers, parents and students

Yes, in everything but name. The WHO keeps the word burnout for work, but the same pattern of exhaustion, distance and getting less done shows up in people caring for a parent or partner, raising young children or studying under steady pressure.

What's different is that you often can't put this job down. There's no weekend from a toddler or a parent with dementia. That makes small daily recovery moments, and asking others to take a shift, even more important.

To take the quiz for caregiving or school, read "work" as your main responsibility. Then pick that source at question 14, and the result speaks of caregiver burnout or school burnout.

How long does burnout recovery take?

It varies widely, and anyone who promises a fixed number is guessing. Early signs can ease within weeks once the pressure drops. Severe burnout can take months or longer. The biggest factor is whether the source changes: recovery is hard while the load that caused it stays the same.

Recovery is rarely a straight line. Good and bad weeks alternate, and a setback after going back to full speed too soon is common. That's not failure.

What supports it: switching off from work in your free time, sleep, movement, people who give you energy and a lower workload. The popular "5 stages of burnout" make a tidy story, but they aren't a validated model, so don't measure yourself against them.

What to do if you scored high: first steps this week

Start small and start with people. If you scored 50 or more, these five steps make a realistic first week. They don't cure burnout on their own; with support and less pressure, they help you recover. In short: tell someone, book a visit, cut one load, protect your bedtime and plan one small break a day.

1. Tell one person. A partner, a friend, your manager or your Employee Assistance Program (EAP).
2. Book an appointment. With your doctor or a therapist, if you scored 50 or more.
3. Cut one load. Pick one task or commitment to drop, hand off or postpone. The Eisenhower Matrix helps you decide what can go.
4. Protect a fixed bedtime. Same time every night. The Sleep Cycle Calculator finds one that fits your wake-up time.
5. Plan one small recovery moment a day. Ten minutes that have nothing to do with work: a walk, slow breathing, a book.

Then aim at your strongest signal, the same tip the result card gives:

• Exhaustion: drop one obligation this week and guard your bedtime.
• Mental distance: sort your tasks, cut what doesn't matter and add one small thing a day that's just for you.
• Reduced effectiveness: work in short blocks with a real break after each, for example with the Pomodoro Timer, and do the hardest task first.
• Recovery: make the last hour before bed screen-free and work-free. The Screen Time Calculator shows how much evening you could win back.

When to get help (and where)

See your doctor or a therapist if the signs have lasted more than a few weeks, if you're sleeping badly or have physical symptoms, if your work or relationships are suffering, or if you're using alcohol or other substances to get through the day. You don't need to wait until it's unbearable.

• Your doctor: a primary care doctor can check for physical causes and refer you on.
• A therapist: talking therapy helps with stress, burnout and depression.
• Your EAP: if your employer has an Employee Assistance Program, it usually offers confidential counseling.
• Alcohol or drugs: SAMHSA's National Helpline is free, confidential and open 24/7: 1-800-662-4357.

Build small recovery habits into your day

Recovery lives in small, fixed moments, not in one big vacation. An evening routine that closes the workday, a few minutes of breathing and a chapter of a book. Or a morning routine that starts calm instead of with email.

Greatr is one way to make those moments stick. You stack small habits like breathing, meditation, journaling and reading into a morning or evening routine and run it one habit at a time, and Greatr counts every day you show up.

Be gentle with the start. Pick one 5-minute habit, like slow breathing after dinner, not a full routine. If you scored 50 or more, do it alongside the conversation with your doctor, not instead of it.